Thursday, September 20, 2012

COS Conference Recap

August 23rd

Where to begin? As
always, taking a break from writing leaves me with a lot to say and
little patience to try and recapture it all.

Visiting Wendy and
JK: What fun! I got off the bus in Sabce around 8am, and quickly
found my way to Wendy's house. We walked a couple of km out to one of
her villages where she's starting a woodlot. It's a big fenced in
area where they'll plant trees, then teach an older woman from each
nearby courtyard how to cut wood without killing the trees so they'll
stay productive for a long time. Having the wood close by is safer,
easier, and gives the women an important job and role in their
families. Wendy had received the grant money just before leaving on
vacation, but the project needed to be done before the rains really
got started so she crossed her fingers and wrote a huge check to the
material supplier and handed it over to her counterpart. He had told
her that the fencing went up, but this was the first time she'd seen
it herself and I think we were both delighted to see that the
project had gone forward even without her there. We took some
pictures, talked to some people farming nearby, and walked back to
make lunch. We sat around her house for the rest of the day, talking,
reading, exchanging pictures, sending emails. Mariam, her adopted
daughter/friend came over and sat around inside, taking advantage of
the fan. The next morning we weighed some babies (her CSPS has a
vastly different system of handling malnutrition than ours does, to
the point that even after an explanation I still don't get it), and
then I ran to catch the bus to JK's village.

I got on the little
TSR mini bus and immediately noticed another nasara. Despite this
being pretty rare, etiquette demands that we not make assumptions of
each other, and since he didn't try to catch my eye in return I kept
moving and sat 2 rows behind him, near the exit for a quick escape
since I was only going 20km. Not a few minutes from Yilou he flips
the top of his bag so I can see it between the seats – a Peace
Corps patch. Ah, this must be that new Kongoussi Response
volunteer. But now it was awkward so I got off directly in front
of a smiling JK and she confirmed that it must have been Sam, and
that he's pretty shy and doesn't speak up much. We dropped my stuff
at her house, then went to go greet some people in her marche. We
talked almost continuously, especially when it started raining like
crazy and we were trapped inside. Thankfully by the next day it had
stopped raining. We carried all our stuff through the mud to the bus
stop, hopped on a bush taxi, and headed for Ouaga.

COS (Close of
Service) Conference: As Kerry said, perhaps the most useful training
we receive from PC. We were put up in the Excellence Hotel for the
conference and the following party. I ended up rooming with Lindsy
and Antoinette in a suite on the first floor, complete with lounge,
air conditioning, and a TV with the news in English! Our door
overlooked the pool, but it admittedly smelled a bit funny, didn't
seem to have any kind of filtration or cleaning system, and did have
a large population of hungry mosquitoes.

We had “class”
from 8-5 daily, a stark change for most of us used to village time,
but we managed alright. Just about every session was useful for some
and not for others, but overall it was bearable even when it was
something that didn't concern me at all (for me the sessions on Peace
Corps Response and how to get a job with an NGO were less compelling
than the one on how to deal with questions we'll be asked by friends
and family when we get home). The resume session was long but needed,
and Ellie, our facilitator, helped me go over mine line by line one
evening. We did a feedback session for the Bureau that Ellie couldn't
stop raving to me about; I think I was lucky in that I kept going
first on each section so I got to say all the thank you's when
discussing things said by the Health PCVs. Still, her praise gave me
a lot more confidence in my ability to be diplomatic even when I
didn't think I was doing that great of a job.

On the last day of
the conference comes the COS party! Planned by the stage following
the one leaving, there's usually food, drink, and inflatable pool
animals involved; this time was no exception. The slideshow, compiled
by Emily and Scott in my stage, was incredible, complete with a
sequence of photos and superlative for each person as well as a bunch
of photos from times when we were all together. I was nominated
“Stage Mom” which made me laugh and think fondly of being “Mama
Jess” to the crew novices. After that we had a champagne toast,
some photos, a nacho buffet, and dancing! I ended up in bed by 1am,
but I'm told that the festivities continued until 3 or 4, including
several brave souls taking a dip in the potentially hazardous pool
with the above-mentioned inflatable sea animals.

The day we were
supposed to go home was Eid, the celebration at the end of Ramadan,
which created some problems since it meant that the country pretty
much shuts down and everyone is home with their families. In our case
it meant that buses didn't run and we were all still stuck in Ouaga.
I wanted to talk to people in the Bureau and get money out of the
bank, and since the holiday fell on a Sunday everything on Monday was
closed as well! Thus I was in town for a bit longer than expected but
ended up getting some work done as well as having the chance to skype
with a few friends! I'm trying to convince Kerry that she should
move to St. Louis with me in January, I think we'd actually make
decent roommates and some of the 2 bedroom apartments we found on
Craigslist were really nice and surprisingly reasonable (especially
to her, having lived in NYC before coming to Burkina).

I decided to go
home on Tuesday, and ended up setting a new record for total travel
time to my village. After I got to the station it started to rain
like crazy, the bus was late by several hours (it's usually late but
I always get there early because on a few occasions it has left
earlier than planned), and getting on was just crazy, everyone
shoving and pushing with more energy than usual, trying to get out of
the rain. Someone offered me a seat he'd reserved – I had been
reluctant to take it but eventually I was very grateful; we got on
the bus around 3pm and didn't get off until nearly midnight. We made
it to Kongoussi, packed some more people on, but then the rain
barrier was down due to flooding and we just had to sit and wait at
the edge of town. Several hours later we were allowed to go, but the
bus broke down not 30 minutes after and we were stuck waiting for
another bus for a few more hours. A new bus finally came, we
transferred everyone over, and off we went. I slept a lot of the way
there, the old lady next to me woke me up when we got to Kossouka,
and I hopped off directly into a big mud puddle. I was in awe of the
stars, you hardly ever notice them in Ouaga but in village they're
just overwhelmingly beautiful! It made me happy, like the little girl
who fell asleep against my shoulder on the bus. I walked home,
marveling at the milky way and mourning that this will soon be gone
when the next PCV gets here and the new street lamps get turned on. I
opened my gate and, to my delight, my yard was free of weeds, someone
had tidied up my hangar, and my basil was over 2 feet tall! What a
wonderful gift to come home to, even (especially) at midnight.

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About Me

Born in Colorado, undergrad in Massachusetts, spent 2 years working with the Peace Corps in West Africa. Somewhere along the way I fell for the desert. Although I'm currently a grad student in Tennessee, I hope to someday make my home in the sunny southwest, at least until the next adventure.

Where to find me!

Jessica Suhowatsky, PCV

S/c Corps de la Paix

01 B.P. 6031

Ouagadougou 01, Burkina Faso

I've decided to keep the same address for now, and anything you mail at this address will be held until I can get to Ouaga to pick it up. This might not happen more often than once every month or two so I might be a little slow to respond but I promise I will! Packages and letters arrive intact (sometimes late, but intact) - the strategy of addressing in red or putting religious symbols on the outside is apparently not as useful in Burkina as it is in other countries. International flat-rate boxes seem to be the easiest and often the least expensive option. You probably shouldn't value the contents at more than $40, and list them as "Educational Materials".